Monday, November 21, 2011

Research Practice

"Although freshman college students may experience the most rapid increases in weight seen in any age group, the increases are modest compared to the popular media’s notion of the “freshman 15.”" (Crombie et al, 2009, p. 92)

This article will help me determine whether the "freshman fifteen" is factual or just a myth out there scaring college students into healthier eating and exercising habits. It reviews other sources that I would have to look further into before I use a lot of information from this article since it is a secondary source for a lot of the information. But the conclusions that the researchers draw are helpful in pointing me in the right direction towards an answer to the question if the "freshman fifteen" is real or a myth.

This study was done on 52 college freshman, and many of the students reported weight gain, but only 6 of the 52 gained 15 pounds or more. Some students even lost weight. I could use this empirical evidence in my paper to back up claims that the "freshman fifteen" might be an overstatement, and that college freshman experience weight gain, it is usually less than fifteen pounds. Maybe the term "freshman fifteen" is just a general term for weight gain, but it implies that the students will gain exactly fifteen pounds. I really like this source because of the empirical data the researchers found to back up their claims, which will help me back up my claims.